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I'll gladly avoid this like AIDS since I was conned into suffering through Demon's Souls and have thus lost the capacity to take anything mainstream videogame critics say seriously. When reviewers give good scores to games like this that I dislike and bad scores to games I actually like, that makes the mainstream videogame press to me completely untrustworthy.

When reviewers give good scores to games like this that I dislike and bad scores to games I actually like, that makes the mainstream videogame press to me completely untrustworthy.

I'm confused by the word "trust" here. People have different opinions so its pretty common to not like games that review well in the mainstream press and vice versa. They aren't lying to you, they just have different tastes.

I'm confused by the word "trust" here. People have different opinions so its pretty common to not like games that review well in the mainstream press and vice versa. They aren't lying to you, they just have different tastes.

This is true, except in the case for certain famous websites WE SHALL NOT MENTION

"Yes, because apparently blindly jumping headfirst into a firefight without a grasp on the situation or any combat experience is a sign of genius these days."

Demon's Souls had teleportation devices to go to areas where you wanted to go. Dark Souls is full on "you gotta run there" to get to areas.

Yes, but that doesn't really tell the whole story. Dark Souls had a lot of mid-way bonfires that made it so you didn't have to start way back at the start of an area, in addition to many unlock-able shortcuts. Demon's Souls did not and often required just as much walking when you failed to unlock a shortcut or couldn't find it. With repairing/upgrading/leveling all available at bonfires this also meant less trips back to a "hub" area as well. It's really only an issue if you forget to do something early on and have to backtrack. Once you have a feel for the world and the shortcuts you can get most places very quickly.

I really don't get people that post in the threads about games they don't like.

Really? What are the differences?

-Hub world with seperate "stages" to warp to in each of the five areas as opposed to a interconnected world with many short cuts (and eventually warping)
-Demon's Souls "dead" (soul) form had significant penalties and in Dark Soul's the "dead" (undead) form did not
-Demon's Souls had healing/magic restoring items that you had to fine buy and Dark Souls had a supply refilled when you rest at a bonfire and limited uses of spells instead of magic points
-Blocking is more powerful and useful earlier on in Dark Souls
-Larger variety of weapons and upgrade options in Dark Souls using the various embers and blacksmiths
-Dark Souls procedes similar to metroidvania games while Demon's Souls is a bit more straightforward
-Dark Souls features AI helpers for some bosses (and also a few AI invaders)

Really the big one here is: -Demon's Souls "dead" (soul) form had significant penalties and in Dark Soul's the "dead" (undead) form did not

Instead of death being a penalty in Dark Souls it's often a minor inconvenience or a useful learning experience. Death could often be brutal in Demon's Souls, especially when you've just used a rare item to bring your character back to live and then immediately die and go back to soul form. I could talk about this for ages but I leave it at that and point to my review which goes into some detail: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dsouls/darksouls/reviews/darksoulsstrev1.html

Instead of death being a penalty in Dark Souls it's often a minor inconvenience or a useful learning experience. Death could often be brutal in Demon's Souls, especially when you've just used a rare item to bring your character back to live and then immediately die and go back to soul form. I could talk about this for ages but I leave it at that and point to my review which goes into some detail: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dsouls/darksouls/reviews/darksoulsstrev1.html

I like the sound of that. I really have put off buying it for too long.

More news: Dark Souls 2 will also feature a more "understandable" storyline and straightforward gameplay:

One of the biggest reveals during the 2012 Video Game Awards show on Friday was Dark Souls II for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Little is known about the project, but now new director Tomohiro Shibuya (who replaced Demon's Souls and Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki) has revealed the game will be more direct than past Souls games.

"[Dark Souls II] will be more straightforward and more understandable," Shibuya told Edge.

Dark Souls II will feature a new hero, a fresh storyline, and an "unfamiliar" setting. "Epic battles with gruesome enemies" are promised, as well as a revamped server-based multiplayer mode that aims to "put a distinct Dark Souls II twist on the concept of playing with others."

I loved Demon's Souls. My problem with Dark Souls was that towards the end things got tedious for me. I don't remember the exact particulars now, but I just remember that enemies were taking FOREVER to kill. (I remember them being really tall "golem" like monsters, don't remember the area name). I eventually got tired of this and began slowly phasing out of playing the game until I eventually quit. I loved the game up until that point.

I'm fully aware that there are probably other ways of taking on those enemies easier that I hadn't found, such as a particular elemental magic enchanted item. That's part of the problem with the Souls games though, the lack of accessibility on things like that make it tough if you get stuck without the proper weapon or magic type. I like to be able to play a game without constantly looking at reference material.

I hear they are focusing more on making the game a bit more accessible for this iteration, but of course a lot of gamers are freaking out at that news. (source at neogaf)

I'm fully aware that there are probably other ways of taking on those enemies easier that I hadn't found, such as a particular elemental magic enchanted item. That's part of the problem with the Souls games though, the lack of accessibility on things like that make it tough if you get stuck without the proper weapon or magic type. I like to be able to play a game without constantly looking at reference material.

Aside from those darn skeletons, there is really no enemy in the game you can't kill fairly quickly with basic attacks and weapons (and it's actually pretty easy to craft a weapon that can kill the skeletons).

I hear they are focusing more on making the game a bit more accessible for this iteration, but of course a lot of gamers are freaking out at that news

To be fair, they have good reason to be concerned. There have probably been more unique and interesting games that morphed into mindless hack'n'slash fests and CoD knock-offs this generation than any other. To be fair to the devs, they need ridiculous sales to keep up with the costs of competing with the likes of the biggest games.

Frankly, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the same thing happen to Dark Souls.

To be fair, they have good reason to be concerned. There have probably been more unique and interesting games that morphed into mindless hack'n'slash fests and CoD knock-offs this generation than any other. To be fair to the devs, they need ridiculous sales to keep up with the costs of competing with the likes of the biggest games.

Frankly, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the same thing happen to Dark Souls.

We should remember that this is FROM software who don't exactly have a history of making any game that could be called "straightforward". While there's reason to be concerned, I wouldn't expect them to make "Final Fantasy XIII Dark Souls Edition" or something.

We should remember that this is FROM software who don't exactly have a history of making any game that could be called "straightforward".

You're right. FROM isn't really known for change. They made like 15 Armored Cores before they released one that was significantly different from the rest.

But my point was the fans at Neogaf are perfectly justified in being concerned considering how many other franchises this generation executed radical changes to their games' formula. They may not be right in this particular case, but given what has happened this gen you can't blame them for being worried. While the potential threat with regards to FROM is unlikely, nearly all of the cool kids are doing it, and I highly doubt FROM is 100% immune from the temptation to give in to mainstreaming.

Final Fantasy XIII Dark Souls Edition would have been about 13 minutes long, as Cocoon crashed down from the sky and everyone died.

You're right. FROM isn't really known for change. They made like 15 Armored Cores before they released one that was significantly different from the rest.

But my point was the fans at Neogaf are perfectly justified in being concerned considering how many other franchises this generation executed radical changes to their games' formula. They may not be right in this particular case, but given what has happened this gen you can't blame them for being worried. While the potential threat with regards to FROM is unlikely, nearly all of the cool kids are doing it, and I highly doubt FROM is 100% immune from the temptation to give in to mainstreaming.

oh for sure there's reason to be worried, but I think it will end up being mostly unnecessary.

If they introduced all bonfire options, like customization and teleportation, earlier on, it wouldn't have been much of an issue. In some places it feels like they deliberately implemented inconveniences for the sake of adding challenge.

to do what prep for your character? Almost everything can get added to bonfires quite early on

If he's talking about weapon enhancement and Covenants, then sure, it can be a royal pain to run around and get all the stuff. That's probably the most time consuming part of the game. Bonfire or not, you still need specific embers, collectible items, or certain blacksmiths to do anything, and many of the more useful shopkeepers/blacksmiths aren't in convenient spots. Not sure why they decided to have the less useful one-time shopping vendors appear at Firelink Shrine, but not the shopkeepers that sell useful stuff you need to keep buying over and over again.

I liked Dark Souls more except for the PvP. Hopefully going back to a central host server fixes the PvP lag. And I hope the next one doesn't have a bug that results in level 1 characters twinked out in end game gear in the next one. I got tired of being killed without being touched or by a single scratch when I was a newb.

If he's talking about weapon enhancement and Covenants, then sure, it can be a royal pain to run around and get all the stuff. That's probably the most time consuming part of the game. Bonfire or not, you still need specific embers, collectible items, or certain blacksmiths to do anything, and many of the more useful shopkeepers/blacksmiths aren't in convenient spots. Not sure why they decided to have the less useful one-time shopping vendors appear at Firelink Shrine, but not the shopkeepers that sell useful stuff you need to keep buying over and over again.

not sure what you're shopping for that requires constant trips. Also you shouldn't need to visit the blacksmiths that often. Repair and basic enhancement could be done from bonfire.